This application claims priority of Taiwanese application no. 091214214, filed on Sep. 10, 2002.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical adapter, such as one that is used to interconnect electrically two different types of electrical connectors, more particularly to an electrical connector with a foldable housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most electrical equipments, such as desktop computers, notebook computers, mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), etc., available in the market are equipped with Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectors for connecting to computer peripherals. Referring to FIG. 1, a set of USB connector ports 211 is mounted on the rear panel of a notebook computer 21. The USB connector port 211 of the notebook computer 21 is connected to a computer peripheral, e.g., an external CD-ROM drive 22.
The CD-ROM drive 22 has a signal cable 11. A conventional USB connector 12 is fixed and electrically connected to one end of the signal cable 11 and is coupled electrically to the USB connector port 211 of the notebook computer 21. Since the USB connector 12 typically includes a rigid housing, the USB connector 12 protrudes by a substantial distance from the rear panel of the notebook computer 21 once the USB connector 12 is mounted on the USB connector port 211. The protruding distance as such increases an effective width of the notebook computer 21 from W1 to W2 such that extra space is required on a table when the USB connector 12 is mounted on the USB connector port 211 of the notebook computer 21. The protruding distance also prevents the signal cable 11 from being placed close to the rear panel of the notebook computer 21, thereby making the surrounding area of the notebook computer 21 unsightly.
In addition, the current trend is to equip notebook computers 21 with several USB connector ports 211. In most notebook computers, the USB connector ports 211 are arranged in close proximity. Hence, when each of these ports 211 is connected to the USB connector 12 of a respective computer peripheral, the housings of the USB connectors 12 may be in physical contact with each other. It is thus possible for the USB connector 12 to block other USB connector ports 211 on the rear panel of the notebook computer 21. As such, it is inconvenient to insert another USB connector 12 into an available USB connector port 211. Further, since the USB connectors 12 cannot be reoriented, signal interference among the connectors 12 is likely to occur.
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide an electrical adapter with a foldable housing that can overcome the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art.
According to the present invention, an electrical adapter comprises:
a first electrical connector unit;
a second electrical connector unit coupled electrically to the first electrical connector unit; and
a foldable housing including first and second housing parts, the first electrical connector unit being mounted in the first housing part, the second electrical connector unit being mounted in the second housing part, the foldable housing further including a pivot joint that interconnects the first and second housing parts and that permits relative rotation between the first and second housing parts about a pivot axis.